Review: One Hundred Candles by Mara Purnhagen

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publishing Date: February 15th, 2011
ISBN: 9780373210237
Pages: 218 pgs

My Rating: 4 stars

Summary from GoodReads:
It's taken a long time for me to feel like a normal teenager. But now that I'm settled in a new school, where people know me as more than Charlotte Silver of the infamous Silver family paranormal investigators, it feels like everything is falling into place. And what better way to be normal than to go on a date with a popular football star like Harris Abbott? After all, it's not as if Noah is anything more than a friend….

But my new life takes a disturbing turn when Harris brings me to a party and we play a game called One Hundred Candles. It seems like harmless, ghostly fun. Until spirits unleashed by the game start showing up at school. Now my friends and family are in very real danger, and the door that I've opened into another realm may yield deadly consequences.

My Review:
Well, it's taken me quite some time to write this review. I started this book on the plane home from Barbados and I finished the book on the plane home from Barbados. Like the first book in Purnhagen's series, I could not put this book down. I really enjoy a good ghost story and this book didn't disappoint. I was very lucky to have received this book from NetGalley. As I said in my review of Past Midnight, I really relate to the main character in this book. This book added another layer to Charlotte's character; she caught in the middle of her parents fighting. Again, while in high school my parents split up and I remember almost feeling relieved because I wouldn't have to deal with their constant arguing anymore. In this novel, Charlotte is frustrated with the way her parents are acting throughout a good portion of the novel. Again all this is to say that I related to Charlotte in a new way. I have to admit that the ghost story of this book wasn't as intriguing as in the first novel. I don't want to give too much away but I had figured out a good part of the mystery to the story. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the mystery of the book but I had it figured out pretty quickly for the most part. There was an added twist at the end and I hadn't figured that out. Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I would definitely recommend any book written by Mara Purnhagen. Her writing flows really well and her characters are endearing.